Norinco 1911 or Ruger 1911 ? for my first 1911

Rivalen said:
Get the Ruger; It works out of the box. The Norc, not so much...

I explain myself:
When I got my Ruger SR1911, I took it out of the box, a quick field strip, lube and brought it to the range. End of story.

When I got my Canam deal Norc 1911... It required a full detail strip and a lot of scrubbing to remove the cosmoline or whatever sh*t that was on it. It came with broken grips (that are crap anyway, so add $$$ for some decent grips). The barrel bushing was so full of burr that it would not come out without a lot of force. The sights on it are really low and I hit the paper 8 inch low @ 5 yards (!!!). Installing new sights require a gunsmith or some fiddling with a file because the sights inserts are not standard (add some more $$$ for some decent sights and installation). It also came with an amazing 12lbs trigger (Add some more $$$ for some replacement springs) and/or trigger job. The mags were crap and caused nose dive (Add $$$ to get decent mags). BUT OMG the frame is made of magic chinese forged steel that's so strong you can carve president face in it! (If you can afford to wear out the cast Ruger frame you can afford a better gun imo :) ).

So yes the Norc was a fun project to learn the Platform but for your first gun, if you want something that will work out of the box and wont be a pain in the a**, do yourself a favor and get the Ruger SR1911!
Click to expand...

Buying the CanAm deal Norinco could just as easily go the other way to. I bought two of them and my wife bought one. Her trigger is right about 5.5 pounds and pretty decent feel to, easily as good as my Ruger MKIII was before I did a trigger job. I spent about fifteen minutes on my first one with a hard arkansas stone, and it is about the same now too. The finish is pretty good on all three of them, but one of mine had a small sharp burr at the front of the frame that I knocked off with an emery board. The other one I bought needed the rear sight moved over a hair, but other than that, we are pretty happy with them. The second one I ordered came with an extra pair of black rubber grips that are actually pretty decent. A couple guys at work bought them as well, and the one my boss got shoots way better than his M&P 40. His is as it came out of the box.
Kristian
 
Last edited:
Grummpy said:
Norinco from CanAm with a 1000 rounds of 45 is a ok deal, the ammo is fine but the gun is rough around the edges to say the least. The Ruger 1911 is a much nicer gun, fit and finish, but some of them have troubles with front sights snapping off. My ruger is in for it's 3rd sight in under 1000 rounds, going to a machined sight rather than the stock cast one.
I own both guns, would still buy the Ruger before the Norinco. Just my 2 cents worth.
Click to expand...

thanks...
 
I've got both, in fact I have 3 norc's and a Kimber to boot, and for the money I'd go for the ruger hands down every time.

Out of the box it's perfect.
Beautiful stainless, nice grips, nice novak sights, well put together.
Norc's ya have to fiddle with.
Kimbers, while being a better gun are a lot of $$$.

So, for the money I'd go ruger every day of the week..... And twice on Sunday.
In fact I'm chomping at the bit for someone to get the commander sr1911 in stock already!!!

Visual aid

005_zps9078d45d.jpg


Norc (1000rd deal one), norc, norc, sr, Kimber
 
wayupnorth said:
I've got both, in fact I have 3 norc's and a Kimber to boot, and for the money I'd go for the ruger hands down every time.

Out of the box it's perfect.
Beautiful stainless, nice grips, nice novak sights, well put together.
Norc's ya have to fiddle with.
Kimbers, while being a better gun are a lot of $$$.

So, for the money I'd go ruger every day of the week..... And twice on Sunday.
In fact I'm chomping at the bit for someone to get the commander sr1911 in stock already!!!

Visual aid

005_zps9078d45d.jpg


Norc (1000rd deal one), norc, norc, sr, Kimber
Click to expand...

I'd like the Commander as well but would not turn down a Norc if it was without problems..
 
wayupnorth said:
I've got both, in fact I have 3 norc's and a Kimber to boot, and for the money I'd go for the ruger hands down every time.

Out of the box it's perfect.
Beautiful stainless, nice grips, nice novak sights, well put together.
Norc's ya have to fiddle with.
Kimbers, while being a better gun are a lot of $$$.

So, for the money I'd go ruger every day of the week..... And twice on Sunday.
In fact I'm chomping at the bit for someone to get the commander sr1911 in stock already!!!

Visual aid

005_zps9078d45d.jpg


Norc (1000rd deal one), norc, norc, sr, Kimber
Click to expand...

Visual Aid is more then welcome...lol thanks for the info...
 
Ive owned both and they are both great for getting into the 1911 platform at a reasonable price.However,I would still go with the Ruger as you have all the features already(decent sights,decent trigger,beavertail safety,extended safety,good quality springs),that you would end up spending on the Norinco anyway.The Ruger is far better finished and refined as well.If you go with the Ruger however,ideally examine the gun before buying,as they really vary in tightness.Ive owned 2 of these Rugers,the one was an absolute rattletrap(far looser than any Norinco Ive seen) while the other was really nicely put together.
 
Id get the norc or some other inexpensive one first use it abuse it get to know it then get a nice one.

Personally i went GSG then SAM Omega 6 and next in the 1911 line will either be a stainless sam or remington.
 
while agree that Norcs are great and you wont drop to your knees and cry when you scratch it
BUT, you need to have a understanding of the 1911 platform and how to trouble shoot and fix the 1911's
for the most part Norcs are not out of the box golden guns.
good and solid, yes.
perfect out of the box, no.

it took me a couple years of shooting norc's to realise that not all 1911's where POS.
when i picked up my SR and my Kimber i say down with a sigh and kicked myself for all the years of putting up with my norcs, haha

but like i said, you wont regret the Ruger SR.
its a 100% gun.

now, that said i LOVE playing around with my norcs.
they are the only 1911's ive torn right down to every spring and screw.
fantastic guns to play with, which is why i have 3 of them!

but your asking which gun to get and be happy with.
go with the ruger.
(or maybe a Remington R1 Enhanced, very similar in price and features from what i can see)

id love to say go with a SAM but so far i havnt read any good range reports about them.
my dad picked one up and he loves the fit and finish on it but he hasnt been able to shoot it yet.
and all the posts i see about them complain that they wont cycle more then a round or 2 at a time.
i am probably gonna order one anyways to check them out.
for the price, $500, i dont mind playing around with them.
but probably not a good beginner 1911 as they sound like they have a lot of feed problems that need trouble shooting on the mags and ramps.
 
Buy the Norc, find out if you even like the 1911 first.

The Norinco is the best value for your dollar, and while I have a Sig 1911 I want to add a couple of Norcs to my heard just because they represent the old way of building 1911s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom